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Notes 1.3


vocabulary:
Pangea
- means "all lands" or that all the continents were together.
continental drift - moving of the continents apart.
fossil - any trace of an ancient organism that has been preserved by rock.

Outline



Introduction

  • Africa and South America looks like jigsaw puzzles that would fit togther.

The Theory of the Continental Drift

  • 1910 ; Alfred Wegener
    • Hypothesis: the continents were once joined together.
    • 300 millions years ago
Evidence from Landforms
  • mountains - coal fields
  • mountain range from South America connects to Argetina's mountain range.
Evidence from Fossils
  • found common dinosaur fossils in different places
Evidence from Climate
  • different places in the world had opposite climates
    • hot places had rock scratches which indicated that glaciers were once there

Scientists Reject Wegener's theory


  • Wegener could not explain the forces that push or pull the continents